Making your own dough for pasta and ravioli is a simple matter. There are very few ingredients (in fact, there are only 3 of them, if you count salt), but there are nuances in choosing products and combining them.
All things considered, the perfect dough is in your pocket. And how nice it is to serve a pasta dish, the dough for which was prepared in the home kitchen.
The recipe for this dough has been tested for centuries and is ideal for ravioli with meat, vegetable, cheese and fish fillings, as well as for any homemade pasta.
Products from it have a yellow color due to eggs (they replace water here), so this dough is also called egg dough. Proteins give the dough moisture and hold the flour together, and fatty yolks give tenderness and softness.
So what’s important to know?
- Flour should be soft (not hard) wheat. Of course, hard dough will also turn out, but when rolling out and forming shapes, it will break, and it will taste rougher. So the ideal flour for dough is a soft variety and always a fine grind.
- Of course, the dough can also be kneaded in a blender, and most likely you will, but the classic recipe excludes it. The dough loves the warmth of hands and the energy of a person, so it is better to combine the ingredients, knead and knead the dough by hand (if there is an extra 15 minutes for this).
- There are proven proportions when preparing egg dough for pasta and ravioli – 1 egg should be taken per 100 g of flour. Knowing these rules, you can change your proportions.
Recipe for spaghetti and ravioli pasta
What you need for the flour:
- Flour – 200g
- Egg – 2 pcs
- Salt – ½ teaspoon
- Prepare a work surface, clean it and dust it with flour (if space does not allow, use a wide mold or a blender).
- Salt the sifted flour, break the eggs into it and start kneading the dough. After about 10 – 15 minutes, you will get an elastic and slightly sticky mass.
- Continue kneading it until it gets a smooth texture (watch the amount of flour, it should not be too much). The dough should not become dry, but it should not stick too much to the fingers either.
- Roll the dough into a ball and wrap in cling film. Now it is important to let it brew in the cold. Leave it in the refrigerator overnight (or at least half an hour). Chilled dough will become even more elastic and pliable.
Roll out the dough
The dough can be rolled out by hand, but in fairness it should be noted that even in restaurants, the dough is rolled out using a special machine, which is available for purchase at any kitchen supply store.
It is with the help of this device that it is possible to achieve a perfectly even layer of dough of the same thickness.
This thickness is achieved by using two cylinders that are at a given distance from each other, and a layer of dough is passed between them. Excess dough is wound on a special rolling pin.
You can use dough sheeters with unleavened, puff, and yeast dough – the main thing is that it is sufficiently dense and elastic.
The ideal dough thickness for ravioli is about 1 millimeter.
Making ravioli
So, you have shifted a perfectly rolled out layer of dough in front of you. To make the dough stick to each other better, the bottom layer can be thinly greased with an egg.
Lay out the filling at an equal distance from each other, taking into account the desired size of future products. Try to use a small amount of filling – about one teaspoon per product.
Top with the second part of the dough and press so that the lower and upper layers of dough near the filling stick together.
Cut the products with a knife or a special corrugated form into even squares. Gently press the layers of dough to remove all excess air.
Now your ravioli is ready to cook. Boil the ravioli in simmering water for 3-4 minutes. If you cook longer and at a strong boil, the filling may begin to come out of the dough.
The proportions for cooking are: 100 g of pasta per 1 liter of water. You can add a teaspoon of salt and 10 ml of olive oil to the water.
